It was nice to finally get out to Lewisville and catch the action of the Triad Summer Pro-Am on Monday night. Although the Wake players did not have huge performances on this particular evening, there were still plenty of highlights to keep the fans interested. I was able to watch all the Deacs except L.D. Williams and Ty Walker, so here's a quick rundown of what I observed from the guys:
Chas McFarland and C.J. Harris won a close one in the first session. When Chas got the ball in the post he scored pretty much every time. The problem was that he didn't get many touches, especially in the second half. The baby hook turning over his right side is money. Harris knocked down a couple threes and scored in traffic a few times, but got blocked a few times as well. I was most impressed with C.J.'s deceptively quick crossover and passing skills once he got into the lane. Both guys ended up with around 15 points.
Tony Woods and Gary Clark faced off against Al-Farouq Aminu's team in the second session. Clark and Aminu didn't arrive at the gym until halftime, so the first half was Tony Woods trying the break the rim whenever he got the chance. Clark was very efficient in the second half and knocked home a number of jumpers, while Aminu scored whenever he put his mind to it. It was fun to watch Woods and Aminu go back and forth with each other as they joked and talked trash after almost every play. Aminu's shot looks to have more arch on it than last season and appears to have improved in the short time we saw him shoot around. All three players finished scoring in the teens.
The final game featured Ish Smith and Ari Stewart against Konner Tucker and David Weaver. Ish got off to a fast start with a couple difficult shots in the lane and a three, while Tucker matched him with a couple threes of his own. Near the end of the half Ish showed off his new-found hops and tried to cram a dunk on the defender's head. He missed, but was fouled in the process. Later, he drove baseline in the half court offense and threw one down with both hands. Teammate Ari Stewart is very quick off his feet and has nice form on his jump shot, but did not get it to fall as much on Monday. He had a few very nice dunks in transition and tried to post up Tucker regularly. Tucker hit about four three-pointers and showed off his passing skills as well, creating several dunks for David Weaver. The best of the bunch was reminiscent of a Chris Paul alley-oop to Tyson Chandler, as Konner drove the lane and threw a perfect one-handed lob to Weaver. Tucker definitely plays with a point guard's mentality.
Near the end of the game, Ish tried to lead his team to victory, but fell short. He connected on a few deep threes off the high screen, but needed one more to complete the comeback. Smith finished with just over 20 points, while the other Deacs scored in the low teens.
Check back Friday for a report on Thursday's games. Here are the matchups for the next session if you are able to make it out to FCDS. The organizers of the league like to switch the location of the games in the schedule, but the teams and times should be correct.